WhatsappThis video documents an attack that took place a year ago, yet it was only released now, a year later. The timing of this video leak is interesting, considering the United Nations Security Council is expected to renew the yearly mandate of this UNIFIL force this week.
These are United Nations peacekeeping forces, aka UNIFIL, whose goal is to “restore peace and security” in Southern Lebanon. Instead, we see how they are weak against the Hezbollah terrorists who have made Southern Lebanon into the dangerous area it is today, one big militarized area prepared for a military attack against Israel with an arsenal of 150,000 rockets aimed at most of Israel. Interestingly, following the 2006 Second Lebanon war, the peace accord gave UNIFIL the mandate to stop Hezbollah from building up its rocket arsenal. Yet we see how successful they were in that department.
In the video, we see two UNIFIL patrol vehicles stopped and attacked by Hezbollah operatives right outside the force’s headquarter. They are quickly surrounded by over a dozen men who smash the windows and then set one of the UN vehicles on fire. UNIFIL members then surrendered their weapons and some were reportedly beaten and threatened with their own weapons then aimed at them.
Dani Dayan, Israel’s consul general in New York, tweeted of the video, “This was a #MustWatch. The whole truth about Hezbollah criminal terrorist behavior and about UNIFIL weakness in one short shocking video. The UN must guarantee UNIFIL’s ability to fulfill its mission.”
This was a a #MustWatch. The whole truth about Hezbollah criminal terrorist behavior and about UNIFIL weakness in one short shocking video. The UN must guarantee UNIFIL’s ability to fulfill its mission.
— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) August 28, 2019
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Israel’s UN envoy, Danny Danon, also commented, tweeting, “Indisputable video evidence of Hezbollah militants attacking #UNIFIL. The peacekeeping force is supposed to prevent the terrorist org from operating near Israel’s border. Instead, Hezbollah is backed by Iran, digs terror tunnels into Israel & acts with impunity!”
Two years ago former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley wrote that such incidents were not unusual.
“UNIFIL sometimes runs into roadblocks when it’s patrolling southern Lebanon,” she said. “Men in plain clothes suddenly appear, blocking the UN trucks, stealing their equipment, and pelting them with rocks until they turn around and leave.”
“Everyone knows who these guys are,” Haley pointed out. “It’s Hezbollah. Hezbollah doesn’t want UNIFIL to see what’s beyond these roadblocks. And UNIFIL usually turns around and leaves without reporting on who stopped them and why. UNIFIL doesn’t know what Hezbollah is hiding, and the world doesn’t hear why the patrols are being turned back.”
“This is clearly a Hezbollah-coordinated operation,” said Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Badran, who has testified to Congress about the terror group, said: “Hezbollah’s freedom of maneuver in the south is absolute… which leaves UNIFIL in a sort of awkward situation where they not only can’t do anything but don’t want to do anything either for fear of the kind of incidents that we saw in the video.”
So why does the United Nations continue the UNIFIL force if it is powerless to do what it is enforced to do?
This is why Israel knows it can never rely on the United Nations. We can only rely on ourselves to stop our enemies, regardless of any international promises or treaties.
